What Sweeter Music: Program

On June 15th and 16th we will present a problem titled What Sweeter Music. Here’s what we are singin’:

What Sweeter Music
John Rutter (b.1945), What Sweeter Music
C.V. Stanford (1852-1924), The Blue Bird

From a Foreign Place
Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Zigeunerleben (op. 29/3)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Vier Zigeunerlieder (op. 112b)

Local Flare
Seth Houston (b. 1974), Two Minds (World Premiere)
Matthew Brown (b. 1978), A Red, Red Rose

Cantata Project
J.S. Bach (b. 1685-1750), Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (BWV 150)

Breaking the Silence
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), Cantique de Jean Racine, op. 11
Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943), Sure on this shining night

Hope you can join us!

-Christian Campos, music director
Horizon Music Group 

What Sweeter Music: Program

On June 15th and 16th we will present a problem titled What Sweeter Music. Here’s what we are singin’:

What Sweeter Music
John Rutter (b.1945), What Sweeter Music
C.V. Stanford (1852-1924), The Blue Bird

From a Foreign Place
Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Zigeunerleben (op. 29/3)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Vier Zigeunerlieder (op. 112b)

Local Flare
Seth Houston (b. 1974), Two Minds (World Premiere)
Matthew Brown (b. 1978), A Red, Red Rose

Cantata Project
J.S. Bach (b. 1685-1750), Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (BWV 150)

Breaking the Silence
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), Cantique de Jean Racine, op. 11
Morton Lauridsen (b. 1943), Sure on this shining night

Hope you can join us!

-Christian Campos, music director
Horizon Music Group 

Live recording from our 12/17 concert: “Sweet Rejoicing” featuring the Horizon Chamber Choir and Edward Murray, organ

Music director Christian Campos conducts Handel’s Organ Concerto in F Major with organist Kihyang Suk.

It take a village to pick a program … at least this time

One of my favourite parts of being music director of the Horizon Music Group is picking the music. When one gets the opportunity to work with such a capable group, most things are possible. For this concert, we decided to share some of burden; our very own members and audience picked some – by which we mean most – of the music. Last season’s debut Messiah concerts were wildly successful, so we knew that Handel’s masterwork would be at the center of the program. In lieu of performing the whole work with orchestra as we did last year, we’ve chosen to perform only the Christmas portion of the Messiah with Immanuel Presbyterian Church’s fantastic organist and music director Edward Murray. It is worth noting that Messiah is a “sacred drama,” which was first performed during the Lenten season of 1742. One could argue performing only “Part the First” is most appropriate during the Christmas season. We posted a question on Facebook asking, “What is your favorite Christmas carol or motet?” This concert we are performing the “Top 3,” including Darke’s In the bleak mid-winter, the carol Lo, how a rose e’er blooming, and a jazzed up version of the ever popular White Christmas. The remainder of the program was picked by members of the Horizon Chamber Choir and yours truly. Tavener’s The Lamb, Britten’s A Hymn to the Virgin, and Howell’s “A spotless rose” received multiple votes from our singers. Many of us have wanted to perform Brown, Hummel, and Weirs’ Christmas song arrangements, which my beloved teacher William Dehning made popular during his tenure at the University of Southern California. I added Pearsall’s wonderful In dulci jubilo and Poulenc’s deceptively difficult “Videntes stellam” to round out the program. Before sending it to the printers we thought it would be nice to add a piece from the Renaissance (Hassler’s Dixit Maria) and a chant (Edi beo thu hevene quene). And there we had it: a program centered on “Sweet Rejoicing” – a fortunate translation of “in dulci jubilo.” With that, we hope you can join us for our December 17th concert, featuring the Horizon Chamber Choir with organist Edward Murray.

-Christian Campos, music director
Horizon Music Group 

It’s the most wonderful time of the year …

In less than two weeks the Horizon Chamber Choir will have its first rehearsal for the upcoming in the midst of life concert series. Centered around the Latin text “media vita in morte sumus,” which means … drumroll… in the midst of life we are in death, the program includes works by Purcell, Sheppard, MacMillan, Schütz, and two Bachs. For the conductor, the first reading of any work is exciting. We are no longer the curators of this fine art, but the artists themselves. (Thanks, Richard Taruskin.) Of course, this is only a small part of the process. Artistic planning and rehearsal aside, a great number of people are required to make this possible. 

First and foremost, I would like to thank our singers for generously donating their time. To say we are lucky, would be an understatement. We have some of Los Angeles’ top singers. Half of our singers sing in the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the remaining singers perform with ensembles like the San Diego Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Pacific Chorale, and DeAngelis Vocal Ensemble. The majority of the singers have degrees in music and we have a couple doctors in the house…well at least doctors in music. Secondly, we would like to thank our concert organizers: Dawn Brooks and the Riviera United Methodist Church of Redondo Beach; Justin Rudd and the Community Action Team of Long Beach; and Jerry Hayes of Loyola High School. We are fortunate to have a great support team. Finally, we have some of the most generous and caring audience members. It is only with your support that we can continue to keep the arts alive and well in our community. Help us by donating if you are able. Every little bit helps.

- Christian Campos, music director
Horizon Music Group 

From the Ground Up

It has been an exciting year for the Horizon Music Group. Let’s take a quick look back at this debut season. In November, we performed the complete Messiah (in its premiere 1742/Dublin version). We followed that up with a couple performances of the double-choir motets by J.S. Bach in February. And now we are closing the season with a mix of a cappella music, including a composition by our very own Matthew Brown along with another couple Bach motets.

That only tells half the story. The concerts are the “fun” parts of starting a group from the ground up. The Horizon Music Group has been in works since the spring of 2009, when a group of volunteer professional musicians — an oxymoron indeed — came together to make a short recording of music to introduce the group to donors, concert series, etc. Then began the really fun part of incorporating the group, finding a board of directors, and filing that ever elusive 501(c)(3) paperwork. We have been incredibly blessed to have a fantastic group of people involved in this project. Of course, everyone says this when then start a group, but I feel that we really do have the best people working with us. This includes our board member/lawyer Peter Lesser who has donated countless hours and his own money to get this started; Marianne Grant — our board president — is simply one of the best individuals I know as her generosity and kind spirit know no bounds; the churches of St. James (South Pasadena) and St. Wilfrid’s (Huntington Beach) have been incredibly supportive; and our musicians, who have donated over a 1,000 hours of their time to make this possible. In particular, I want to thank Sarah Drabant, Joy Chen, Andrea Zomorodian, Danny Williams, and Nate Widelitz who have worked as our make-shift staff, doing everything from pickup banners, organize concert dates, make thousands of photocopies, man the ticket booth, and enjoy the wonders of Excel.

I was told recently by a fellow conductor that Horizon is the dream situation. Professional musicians getting together voluntarily to make great music together. I often ask myself: why? Why do our musicians donate their time? And the truth is I don’t know. But, I would like to think it is because of two things: the music and each other. We’ve had the opportunity to make great music together. And we’ve had a chance to start a group from the ground up together.

I want to close by thanking  all of our supporters who have made this first year a success. We ask for your continued support to keep the dream alive and to help us pay the bills :-).

Yours,

Christian Campos, Music Director
Horizon Music Group 

What the conductor does

The number one question I get asked with regards to my profession is: does the orchestra or choir really need a conductor?

The simple answer is no.

An individual performance of a piece of music can be executed successfully without a conductor. Many say that this is the preferred method of performance for the bulk of orchestral and choral repertory before Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

The conductor’s two most important jobs are:

1. to rehearse
2. to interpret

In rehearsal, the conductor serves as an impartial judge … or at least should. The conductor’s primary job in rehearsal is to work through problems encountered while rehearsing a piece. S/he will point out when something is out of tune, balance, time, etc. A conductor can be particularly helpful in sorting out meter and tempo changes; conversely, this is where a conductor’s hand can be most detrimental. Watch Esa-Pekka Salonen conduct Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, there’s a man who a) knows the score and b) is helping the orchestra navigate through dangerous waters. Mixed meter music is notoriously difficult to keep together. Even the best ensembles fall victim to making errors in rhythmically challenging sections. Here the conductor can help by solidly keeping time and reminding the ensemble what patterns or groupings are important.

The conductor is also valuable in unifying an interpretation of a work. This may be the most important thing we do. (Thanks, Dr. Dehning.) We bring a score together by making decisions, which influence things like articulation and dynamic. These decisions should not be made arbitrarily. Rather, they must be make after careful score study of a work. In short, the conductor is “allowed” to make decisions, because ideally s/he knows the whole tune best.

Our hope is that the conductor is there to promote a type of efficiency that would otherwise not be possible. So, while a conductor is not entirely necessary, s/he does or at least should make life a little easier.

- Christian Campos, music director
Horizon Music Group

One down, one to go

Last night the Horizon Chamber Choir performed the first of two concerts featuring the double-choir motets of Bach. We’d like to take a moment to thank the St. James’ South Pasadena Music Guild for their assistance in putting on the concert, especially Marianne Grant, Anne Tumilty, and Sarah Drabant. We’d also like to thank our extremely generous audience. Without you, programs like these are not possible.

We would like to remind everyone that we will be offering the second performance of this program next Sunday February 13th at St. Wilfrid’s of Huntington Beach. More information can be found on our website: www.horizonmusic.org.

I close in quoting my teacher William Dehning who paraphrases his teacher Charles Hirt: “Choral music has a power for social good which no other art form can—or ever will—have: the combination of God’s finest musical achievement—voices in ensemble—plus humankind’s finest achievement, language. That combination is unbeatable, both in music and in society, and could be an unimaginable source of healing and community on a world scale.”

Thanks for the people, not the paperwork

I’ve been asked many times recently, “How did you guys put together the Messiah so quickly?” The answer is rather simple: I have the opportunity to work with wonderfully talented and generous people. It really is that simple. That said, my least favourite part of putting together a concert series, like Messiah or like our upcoming Bach Motets concerts in February, is scheduling. In the spirit of thanksgiving, I thank the heavens for the HMG musicians and Google Docs, especially forms. Even with these great musicians and forms, I still manage to go through a yellow-pad with scheduling options. I guess that’s just the way it is. Stay tuned for more information about our upcoming concerts, including the dates of the concerts, which will be announced here!

-Christian Campos, music director